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What inspires you to stay active and live healthy?

This one is kind of a ‘duh’ one for me: it’s of course the baby I’m trying to grow into a healthy human being. In some ways it’s really invigorating to have something more than myself to think about or to be motivated by.

Though I will admit vanity is a powerful motivator, and one I’m never ashamed to admit. 😉

Wait, there's more!

I just got back from our annual conference, Blogfest, and have a ton of things on my mind, some pregnancy related, some not.

LOVE these Cory Vines jackets we had made for Blogfest. I’m still living in mine.

We had an amazing weekend at the conference, and I must say, traveling during second trimester is much, much easier than during the first. I’m so grateful to my team—Jamie, Dapinder, Liz, here’s looking at you—for taking such good care of me this weekend and doing all the heavy lifting.

I was literally the “sit here and watch the stuff while your team members carry heavy furniture and boxes, and then feed you” girl this weekend.

Post conference, things have been a little… funky. Recovering from the conference has taken a slightly different road than usual, and not just because I’m knocked up. (tl;dr: less sleeping, more eating than usual).

ANYWAY. I’ll be back with more about all that once I have a chance to process and articulate my thoughts. Here’s what’s happening in pregnancy land.

Possibly the best thing a care provider—or any human, for that matter—has ever said to me.

Cravings

I’m all about the hard boiled eggs, the avocado, the yogurt, and the breakfast burrito these days. Siggi’s yogurt, specifically. High fat proteins are where it’s at.

I also had this weird holdover craving from first trimester: Mongolian barbecue. Greasy pan-asian noodles just sounded so.darn.good, but I couldn’t find any close to me in Austin, so as soon as I arrived at my parents’ house, I recruited a willing lunch companion: my dad.

I suspected that Mongolian Barbecue was not going to be as delicious as I remembered (I think the last time I had it was in high school?!) but rest assured, it was just as salty and greasy and carb-y and perfect as I had hoped. It didn’t even matter that I’m not nauseous anymore; it just tasted good.

Symptoms

Mostly feeling good! I’ve had a few nauseous moments but nothing to write home about. I get out of breath at embarrassing moments, like walking up the stairs or hustling between sessions at the conference last weekend.

This is obviously not me. When I started feeling lightheaded during conference workouts, I took pictures of other, more awesome people. Pictured: @PowerCakes & @HipHealthyChick, rocking those plank jacks.

I also find that my energy gets zapped more quickly, especially in group settings. I’m an introvert by nature and my people-time energy seems to have lost some of its staying power.

The biggest symptom I’ve noticed (besides the uncomfortable pressure along my waistband) are MSG headaches. I’ve never had an issue with MSG; quite the opposite, really. I love nacho cheese doritos and basically anything doused in the salty good stuff. I even own a shaker of MSG, which my husband and I used to put on mac’n’cheese and other yummy things that of course we would never eat because I’m in the fitness industry.

Unfortunately, my love affair with the much maligned additive seems to be over. I had some less-than-amazing takeout a few weeks ago (see: greasy noodle cravings) and had a crushing headache for the next two days. That delicious bowl of noodles I slurped down unfortunately seemed to incite the same pressure in my temple… so I’m going to try to stay away from MSG (sob) and see if the headaches do, too.

All the judgments

So, now that you’re judging me for devouring that Mongolian barbecue and confessing my love of MSG, let me share the first moment of actual judgment I’ve experienced since becoming a vessel for another life.

I made some offhand comment to an acquaintance about how I was eating fairly healthy now, but I ate only potato chips in my first trimester because I couldn’t keep anything else down. (Which, as you know, is partly true and also partly not true; I also ate a lot of bagels).

The look on her face was the most judgey, withering scorn I have seen in a long time.

It was irritating, to say the least, but I also felt completely at ease walking away from that conversation and not letting her reaction bother me. I own the fact that my first trimester was all about getting through it, any way I could.

ALSO. For all of you who prefer parties that don’t require makeup or getting dressed or moving off the couch (first trimester ladies I’m talking to YOU!), join us tonight for the Lorna Jane twitter party.

If you’ve never done a twitter party before, this is a great one to start with. Here’s what you can expect:

A series of questions that everyone will weigh in on, using the #LJInspired and #sweatpink hashtags

A flurry of activity and responses and @ mentions and retweets like you’ve never seen

A big uptick in your Twitter engagement and following (in case those things matter to you!).

Nice people, prizes, loads of inspiration, and no dress code or cocktails you have to politely refuse.

‘Nuf said. 😉

Wait, there's more!

Fill in this blog prompt mad lib for a chance to win a copy of Lorna Jane’s new book, Inspired and other fun prizes! Copy and paste the mad lib below, fill in the blanks with your own answers, and make sure to share your link, tagging @LornaJaneActive @FitApproach and hashtag: #LJInspired #SweatPink in all of your shares!

The new Inspired book by Lorna Jane made me feel energized[adj] and ready to take on the world [adj] and now I want to share the ENERGY [noun] I feel with all of you, which is why I’m hosting, along with #SweatPink and Lorna Jane, a four-week #LJInspired Instagram Challenge.

I’ll be sharing everything—the who, what, where, when and whys—of what inspires me to live with big dreams [adj] life and hope you’ll join me. With this challenge, I am vowing to continue to live fearlessly [adj] and keep hustling [verb] towards my dream of making #sweatpink a global movement![your dream].

Yes, my biggest dream is to_grow this community into a powerful force for active living [your dream] and I’ll get there by hustlin’ every day [verb] and [verb] and of course leaning on others who inspire me like the community! [person] and my daughter-to-be.

Seriously, it was one of those can’t keep your eyes open, can’t lift your head off the pillow kinds of days.

I guess that one, not very hard yoga class, plus some serious GSD on Friday really did me in?

My sleepy Saturday aside, it was a glorious weekend around these parts. I did a new hike with some new friends, and discovered an amazing swimming hole that I have to go back to.

Then there was some work (always the working!) and last minute prep for BlogFest. Thanks to spending some time working this weekend, I’m only feeling mildly panicky that the conference is only a few days away.

I’m also hoping that my little hike yesterday doesn’t mean I’m going to spend all day fighting to stay awake today. After all, it’s the first day of #LJInspired, and I’m counting on this challenge to get me back on track so I don’t embarrass myself too badly in front of Gabby Reese and Beto Perez this weekend.

Fill in this blog prompt mad lib for a chance to win a copy of Lorna Jane’s new book, Inspired! Copy and paste the mad lib below, fill in the blanks with your own answers, and make sure to share your link, tagging @LornaJaneActive @FitApproach and hashtag: #LJInspired #SweatPink in all of your shares!

I believe that the key to a happy life is having people around who you love and who love you. [noun]. Those people [same noun] inspires me to be the kickass, stubborn [adj] person that I am today. I am lucky to have my mom [person] and the #sweatpink community[person] in my life because they inspire me to live life to my fullest and to chase my dreams.

My dream is to one day cage dive with great white sharks [verb] and even if it takes being buried alive in spiders, [noun], I know I’ll get there because I’m not afraid to dream big!

While I dream big, I hope to inspire others by going for my dreams, no matter what!